Milan squander Serie A leading role

AC Milan missed the chance to go top of Serie A for the first time this season after being held 1-1 by Napoli at the San Siro on Sunday.

Filippo Inzaghi’s 26th-minute header cancelled out Hugo Campagnaro’s 13th-minute opener in an entertaining encounter with both sides having chances to claim the three points.

The result leaves Milan in second position, one point behind Inter Milan, who were held to a 1-1 draw at Palermo on Saturday, and three above third-place Roma.

Inter and Roma meet next Saturday in a mouth-watering top of the table clash.

Napoli are seventh, five points off the Champions League places ahead of the night match between Sampdoria and Juventus.

Milan, who have not won the title since 2004, went into Sunday’s game having endured a torrid week which had seen them lose experienced campaigners David Beckham and Alessandro Nesta through serious injury.

Coach Leonardo included forward Alexander Pato in the starting line-up but it was Napoli who struck first on 13 minutes after calamitous defending from the home side.

Found by Michele Pazienza, Ezequiel Lavezzi’s cross from the dead ball line was side-footed into an empty net by Campagnaro with Christian Abbiati and Massimo Oddo colliding at the near post.

Things got worse for Milan as Pato immediately limped off and was replaced by on-loan Inter winger Mancini as the Azzurri went for the jugular midway through the first half.

Lavezzi’s pace was causing all sorts of problems and the Argentinian twice came close to doubling the lead.

But a piece of magic from Ronaldinho, celebrating his 30th birthday, helped Milan draw level on 26 minutes.

Cutting inside his man, the Brazilian clipped over the most inviting of crosses to present Inzaghi with a simple header to score from inside the six-yard box.

Napoli’s Marek Hamsik and Fabio Quagliarella twice troubled Abbiati around the half hour mark, while an in-form Ronaldinho was desperate to celebrate his birthday with three points.

As the pace slowed in the second half, Inzaghi and Mancini were denied by point-blank saves by Morgan De Sanctis with the goalkeeper then fumbling to safety a late Andrea Pirlo free kick as Napoli held on.

In other results, Bari and Parma shared the points with a 1-1 draw, staying 11th and 12th respectively, with Chievo and Catania matching that result to stay clear of the drop zone.

First-half goals from Tommaso Rocchi and Sergio Floccari gave Lazio an impressive 2-0 win at Cagliari, lifting the Rome side four points above third-from-bottom Atalanta.